Word: defectiveness
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...attempt to explain rationally the irrational," says William Moffitt, an Alexandria, Va., defense attorney. The legal term insanity bears little resemblance to common parlance or even medical usage. Generally, the legal test is that at the time a crime was committed, the defendant was suffering from a mental defect that made him or her incapable of telling right from wrong. Some states also consider whether a defendant's mental illness impaired the ability to control one's actions. The Dahmer case is expected to hinge on this so-called irresistible-impulse defense...
...years have advanced some bizarre arguments to assert insanity. Last year, for instance, a Florida forensic psychiatrist who was charged with bribery unsuccessfully argued that he was driven insane by his years of work with criminals. "Being a forensic psychiatrist for a long time is not a mental defect," declares Dr. Park Elliott Dietz of Newport Beach, Calif. Usually, defendants must have a defined mental illness. Moreover, it has to be directly linked to the crime. "Someone may have schizophrenia or manic-depressive illness, but that doesn't mean they didn't know what they were doing or couldn...
...sure, Byrd's motive is to help his state. And there is something less than perfect about a political system that decides where to locate the FBI's division of fingerprinting based on the vagaries of the congressional seniority system. (Whether term limits would cure this defect is another question. Although Byrd has been in the Senate for 33 years, he has only been Appropriations chairman for three). But, perhaps by coincidence, West Virginia is -- from an anti-Washington perspective -- probably the ideal place for the Federal Government to seep away to. Economically and culturally, if not geographically...
...part, though, the attitude may also be compensation for what some Japanese historians consider to be their country's biggest defect before World War II: a failure to read properly what the rest of the world thought of Japan. Militarists at the time preached and probably believed, for example, that China would welcome them as liberators. Today the Japan that has constitutionally renounced war is awakening to the need for greater responsibility in world affairs. The shift has been slow, however, and underwent a sharp setback during the gulf...
...Congress's action become law. The "stick it to 'em" school is led by White House chief of staff John Sununu, a longtime antiabortion activist. Sununu and his allies argue that a veto will protect Bush's political base. "There's no chance the right-to-lifers will defect to the Democrats if he signs the bill," says a White House aide. "What we're worried about is their staying home on Election Day. It is increasingly clear that we're going to need an energized pro-life vote in the '92 general election -- and possibly even before...